Episode 134: The Rosin Box: Students on Stage
City Ballet The Podcast
This week around the Rosin Box, hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz are talking about students on stage, with the help of two dancers at either end of that journey: 12-year-old (soon to be 13!) Theo Rochios, a current student at the School of American Ballet, and Soloist Harrison Coll, who is a substitute teacher at SAB. They share some of the challenges, thrills, and lessons dancers take on while at the School, and trade stories about the ultimate students-on-stage ballet: George Balanchine's The Nutcracker®. (1:05:11) Edited by Gus Reed Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink...
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Episode 133: The Rosin Box: Dance Pop Culture
City Ballet The Podcast
The chat around the Rosin Box this week is all about dance in pop culture, with hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz joined by Corps de Ballet Members Naomi Corti and Grace Scheffel. From Center Stage and web series like city.ballet and Strictly Ballet—featuring, among others, NYCB's own Mimi Staker and Alec Knight—to memoirs by legends like Margot Fonteyn, the dancers share the media that inspired their earliest interest in the art form, as well as all the pop moments they've enjoyed (and critiqued) since joining the company, like the "ballet core" fashion trend and the thing...
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Episode 132: The Rosin Box: First Steps
City Ballet The Podcast
We're back at the Rosin Box for another candid conversation with hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz. This week, they're joined by Corps de Ballet Member and budding choreographer Laine Habony to talk about NYCB's First Steps program. This singular initiative gives current company dancers the opportunity to create new works on their peers, providing a professional cast and environment for first-time or early-career dancemakers. As Laine shares, this eye-opening experience provided both an education in what it takes to move to the front of the room and the validation that...
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Episode 131: New Combinations: Paquita
City Ballet The Podcast
Host and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is back with another intimate New Combinations conversation, joined this week by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky. They discuss the origins—both within history and in Ratmansky's own career—of the Petipa ballet Paquita, excerpts of which provide the foundations for his newest ballet for the company. Ratmansky explains his use of Balanchine's Minkus Pas de Trois in revisiting this "feast of classical dancing," and the ways in which his work brings extensive research into conversation with the vocabulary of today's dancers. (30:45) Edited...
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Episode 130: Hear the Dance: The Cage
City Ballet The Podcast
Hear the Dance host Silas Farley is joined by Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan and former Soloists Repertory Director Jean-Pierre Frohlich and Repetiteur Diana White for a conversation about Jerome Robbins' The Cage. From its "empowering" choreography to the manners in which the relationship between the Mother and the Novice mimic that of senior and newer members of the company, they describe the unique qualities of this ballet beloved by dancers and audiences alike. (59:01 Written by Silas Farley Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: Concerto in D for String Orchestra, "Basler"...
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Episode 129: New Combinations: Mystic Familiar
City Ballet The Podcast
In this episode of New Combinations, host and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is joined by Resident Choreographer Justin Peck in the lead-up to the world premiere of his latest work for the company, Mystic Familiar. Peck shares the thematic underpinnings of this "younger brother" to his 2017 ballet The Times Are Racing, which brings together many of the same artists as that earlier work. They discuss the ways in which Mystic Familiar celebrates the dancers' communal energy in an anthem-like The Four Temperaments for the 21st Century. (35:23) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music:...
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Episode 128: Hear the Dance: Concerto Barocco
City Ballet The Podcast
City Ballet The Podcast returns with a new Hear the Dance episode exploring George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco. Host Silas Farley is joined by three former NYCB dancers whose engagement with this foundational ballet continues today: SAB Senior Faculty Chair Suki Schorer, Balanchine Repetiteur Victoria Simon, and SAB Faculty Member Meagan Mann. Together they trace the highlights and unique demands of Barocco's four distinct movements, describing how the apparent simplicity of the ballet demands plenty of hard work and helps build community amongst the dancers. (1:00:28) Written by Silas...
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Episode 127: The Rosin Box: Re-mounting Ballets
City Ballet The Podcast
Claire and Aarón are joined at The Rosin Box this week by Sandra Jennings, a former NYCB dancer who is now a repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust, for a conversation about staging ballets on current performers. As Sandra shares, she travels the world to coach companies of various ballet backgrounds in Mr. B's works, acting as a bridge between the choreographer's vision and the artists of today; as she explains, these ballets are "living, breathing works of art" that are brought to life by the individual dancers. (59:26) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by...
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Episode 126: The Rosin Box: Company Class
City Ballet The Podcast
This week, hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz take the podcast from The Rosin Box to the barre for a conversation about company class, joined by Corps de Ballet Member Christina Clark and former NYCB dancer and current class teacher Amanda Edge. They talk all things real estate, fashion, and Destiny's Child vs. Ludwig Minkus, highlighting the importance of this daily ritual for building a sense of community as well as personal growth. (53:40) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink Martini Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records
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Episode 125: The Rosin Box: Ballet Myths
City Ballet The Podcast
The Rosin Box returns! Hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz are back with another candid conversation, joined this time by Principal Dancer Unity Phelan and Corps de Ballet Member Naomi Corti. They break down some of the most common myths about ballet and Company culture, from whether performers are like the characters in Black Swan to the pros and cons of dating other dancers, and what the perfect "ballerina pedicure" entails. (49:12) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink Martini Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records
info_outlineCity Ballet The Podcast returns with a new Hear the Dance episode exploring George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco. Host Silas Farley is joined by three former NYCB dancers whose engagement with this foundational ballet continues today: SAB Senior Faculty Chair Suki Schorer, Balanchine Repetiteur Victoria Simon, and SAB Faculty Member Meagan Mann. Together they trace the highlights and unique demands of Barocco's four distinct movements, describing how the apparent simplicity of the ballet demands plenty of hard work and helps build community amongst the dancers. (1:00:28)
Written by Silas Farley
Edited by Emilie Silvestri
Music:
Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, B.W.V. 1043
by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by the New York City Ballet Orchestra
Kurt Nikkanen and Arturo Delmoni, Violin Soloists
Aria with Variations in G, BWV 988 (1742), "The Goldberg Variations"
by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Susan Walters, Pianist
Reading List:
1. Repertory in Review: 40 Years of the New York City Ballet by Nancy Reynolds, with an
Introduction by Lincoln Kirstein
2. Thirty Years: Lincoln Kirstein’s The New York City Ballet by Lincoln Kirstein
3. Balanchine and Kirstein’s American Enterprise by James Steichen
4. Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique by Suki Schorer and Russell Lee
5. Balanchine Pointework by Suki Schorer
6. Balanchine Then and Now Edited by Ann Hogan
7. Balanchine’s Ballerinas: Conversations with the Muses by Robert Tracy with Sharon DeLano
8. Balanchine the Teacher: Fundamentals That Shaped the First Generation of New York City Ballet
Dancers by Barbara Walczak and Una Kai
9. Balanchine Variations by Nancy Goldner
10. Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Eliot Gardiner